Update for Jakarta EE community: June 2019

Last month, we launched a monthly email update for the Jakarta EE community which seeks to highlight news from various committee meetings related to this platform. We have also decided to publish these updates as blogs and share the information that way as well. There are a few ways to get a grip on the work that has been invested in Jakarta EE so far, so if you’d like to learn more about Jakarta EE-related plans and get involved in shaping the future of cloud native Java, read on.

Without further ado, let’s have a look at what has happened in May:

Jakarta EE 8 release and progress

Jakarta EE 8 will be fully compatible with Java EE 8, including use of the javax namespace. The process of driving the Jakarta EE 8 specifications, as well as delivery of the Jakarta EE 8 TCKs, and Jakarta EE 8 compatible implementations will be transparent.

Mike Milinkovich recently published a FAQ about Jakarta EE 8, in which he offered answers to questions such as

If you’d like to get involved in the work for the Jakarta EE Platform, there are a few projects that require your attention, namely the Jakarta EE 8 Platform Specification, which is meant to keep track of the work involved with creating the platform specification for Jakarta EE 8, Jakarta EE 9 Platform Specification, intended to keep track of the work involved with creating the platform specification for Jakarta EE 9 and Jakarta EE.Next Roadmap Planning, which seeks to define a roadmap and plan for the Jakarta EE 9 release.

Right now, the fastest way to have a say in the planning and preparation for the Jakarta EE 9 release is by getting involved in the Jakarta EE.Next Roadmap Planning.

Election schedule for Jakarta EE working group committees

The various facets of the Jakarta EE Working Group are driven by three key committees for which there are elected positions to be filled: the Steering Committee, the Specification Committee, and the Marketing and Brand Committee. The elected positions are to represent each of the Enterprise Members, Participant Members, and Committer Members. Strategic Members each have a representative appointed to these committees.

The Eclipse Foundation is holding elections on behalf of the Jakarta EE Working Group using the following proposed timetable:

Nomination period: May 24 - June 4 (self-nominations are welcome)

Election period: June 11 - June 25

Winning candidates announced: June 27

All members are encouraged to consider nominating someone for the positions, and self-nominations are welcome. The period for nominations runs through June 4th. Nominations may be sent to elections@eclipse.org.

Once nominations are closed, all working group members will be informed about the candidates and ballots will be distributed via email to those eligible to vote. The election process will follow the Eclipse “Single Transferable Vote” method, as defined in the Eclipse Bylaws.

The winning candidates will be announced on this mailing list immediately after the elections are concluded.

The following positions will be filled as part of this election:

Steering Committee

Two seats allocated for Enterprise Members

One seat allocated for Participant Members

One seat allocated for Committer Members

Specification Committee

Two seats allocated for Enterprise Members

One seat allocated for Participant Members

One seat allocated for Committer Members

Marketing and Brand Committee

Two seats allocated for Enterprise Members

One seat allocated for Participant Members

One seat allocated for Committer Members

Transitioning Jakarta EE to the jakarta namespace

The process of migrating Java EE to the Eclipse Foundation has been a collaborative effort between the Eclipse Foundation staff and the many contributors, committers, members, and stakeholders that are participating. Last month, it was revealed that the javax package namespace will not be evolved by the Jakarta EE community and that Java trademarks such as the existing specification names will not be used by Jakarta EE specifications. While these restrictions were not what was originally expected, it might be in Jakarta EE’s best interest as the modification of javax would always have involved long-term legal and trademark restrictions.

In order to evolve Jakarta EE, we must transition to a new namespace. In an effort to bootstrap the conversation, the Jakarta EE Specification Committee has prepared two proposals (Big-bang Jakarta EE 9, Jakarta EE 10 new features and incremental change in Jakarta EE 9 and beyond) on how to make the move into the new namespace smoother. These proposals represent a starting point, but the community is warmly invited to submit more proposals.

Community discussion on how to transition to the jakarta namespace concluded Sunday, June 9th, 2019.

The Eclipse Foundation recently released the results of the 2019 Jakarta EE developer survey that canvassed nearly 1,800 Java developers about trends in enterprise Java programming and their adoption of cloud native technologies. The aim of the survey, which was conducted by the Foundation in March of 2019 in cooperation with member companies and partners, including the London Java Community and Java User Groups, was to help Java ecosystem stakeholders better understand the requirements, priorities, and perceptions of enterprise Java developer communities.

A third of developers surveyed are currently building cloud native architectures and another 30 percent are planning to within the next year. Furthermore, the number of Java applications running in the cloud is expected to increase significantly over the next two years, with 32 percent of respondents hoping to run nearly two-thirds of their Java applications in the cloud in two years’ time. Also, over 40 percent of respondents are using the microservices architecture to implement Java in the cloud.

Access the full findings of the 2019 Java Community Developer Survey here.

Community engagement

The Jakarta EE community promises to be a very active one, especially given the various channels that can be used to stay up-to-date with all the latest and greatest. Tanja Obradovic’s blog offers a sneak peek at the community engagement plan, which includes

For more information about community engagement, read Tanja Obradovic’s blog.

Jakarta EE Wiki

Have you checked out the Jakarta EE Wiki yet? It includes important information such as process guidelines, documentation, Eclipse guides and mailing lists, Jakarta EE Working Group essentials and more.

Keep in mind that this page is a work in progress and is expected to evolve in the upcoming weeks and months. The community’s input and suggestions are welcome and appreciated!

Jakarta EE Community Update: May video call

The most recent Jakarta EE Community Update meeting took place in May; the conversation included topics such as the Jakarta EE progress so far, Jakarta EE Rights to Java Trademarks, the transition from javax namespace to the jakarta namespace (mapping javax to jakarta, when repackaging is required and when migration to namespaces is not required) and how to maximize compatibility with Java EE 8 and Jakarta EE for future versions without stifling innovation, the Jakarta EE 8 release, PMC/ Projects update and more.

The minutes of the Jakarta EE community update meeting are available here and the recorded Zoom video conversation can be found here.

Jakarta EE presence at conferences: May overview

Cloud native was the talk of the town in May. Conferences such as JAX 2019, Red Hat Summit 2019 and KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2019 were all about cloud native and how to tap into this key approach for IT modernization success and the Eclipse Foundation was there to take a pulse of the community to better understand the adoption of cloud native technologies.

Don’t forget to check out Tanja Obradovic’s video interview about the future of Jakarta EE at JAX 2019.

It’s that time of year again! You can now submit your proposals to be part of EclipseCon Europe 2019’s speaker lineup. The conference takes place in Ludwigsburg, Germany on October 21 - 24, 2019. Early bird submissions are due July 1, and the final deadline is July 15. Check out Jameka's blog and submit your talk today!

Thank you for your interest in Jakarta EE. Help steer Jakarta EE toward its exciting future by subscribing to the jakarta.ee-wg@eclipse.org mailing list and by joining the Jakarta EE Working Group.

To learn more about the collaborative efforts to build tomorrow’s enterprise Java platform for the cloud, check out the Jakarta Blogs and participate in the monthly Jakarta Tech Talks. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Eclipse newsletter!